Turn the Right Corner
by AlphaRedNova
Summary: Red? She looked up in surprise at the solitary red petal floating down before her, coming softly to rest upon the cold, hard, street. Gingerly prodding it with her toe, she decided it was rose. How strange. A RogueRemy Oneshot.


_Turn the Right Corner._

She hurried home with redundant speed – she had been wandering around these shrinking alleys, making left turns for the past 15 minutes. Looking down, she vaguely noticed that she was on The Street again. Water rushed along the drainages beneath her feet. Spring had melted the frost out of Winter, sending its precipitate chorusing along the pipelines. The lights flickering from across the street captured her attention, but she did not look up. Misery filled her eyes at recognition of the damned familiarity.

It was the street that led back to the Mansion, just by turning the right corner.

With the sudden realization of her breathless pause, she hesitated slightly before picking her two-and-a-half inch heeled boot off the floor again. Left, right, left right. Shuddering as she once again came under the glare of a streetlamp, the mysterious melody of a violin dully registered upon her. Well, this definitely was the ideal setting for contemplation. Lights? Check. Music? Check. Right, just the action left.

_Maybe, just maybe ah should have held mah tongue and not have blown my lungs out at Scott._

She miserably kicked a stray rock off her path.

_Idiot._

It hadn't been her fault that she had been sent to detention once again. It hadn't been her fault either, for pitching an almost blunt projectile at the air between the heads of some anti-mutant Seniors. It really wasn't her fault that they had shoved her best friend, Kitty, against a locker.

Of course, them teasing Rahne, sweet Rahne, about her canine features didn't help.

_If the world isn't goin' tah accept us, for what we are, we aren't goin' tah accept their discriminatin' ways._

For weeks she had tolerated them. For weeks she had cast sand over the burning anger within her heart. She suspected her sudden retaliation had something to do with her accidentally absorbing Bobby in a game of Mutantball the day before. So what if Bobby was the dirtiest cheater in the entire Institute, having planned to trip her on her way to Base 3. He didn't deserve to be crashed into, be exhausted of his life force, only to rouse in bleariness 4 hours later.

_Damn those powers._

Those idiots should have seen it coming. She conceded that it had been enough, much more than enough.

_They'll never accept us, especially meh._

Scott could lecture her about control and tolerance until he was blue in the face. She wasn't going to waste an entire Danger Room session listening to the ravings of a mad mutant.

She knew where this was headed. Bigotry, bigotry and more bigotry. The War was almost inevitable now. It would end in tragedy. In the vast sorrow and the outrage of a mother whose children were mercilessly annihilating each other. In fear. In an endless sea of red.

_Red?_

She looked up in surprise at the solitary red petal floating down before her, coming softly to rest upon the cold, hard, street. Gingerly prodding it with her toe, she decided it was rose.

How strange.

She strained her ears for the faintest of sounds, but all she heard was the waning melody of the violin as it hit its last, reluctant, dying notes. Ahead was just an endless stretch of clear, gray slate lined neatly with the row of cheerful street lamps, dotted with flooding pools of light. Look left. A single lit apartment blinked back at her. No movement except for the black cat by the window unfurling itself from sleep. Look right. Three more deep red petals now lay on the floor.

"Bonjour Chere"

She started with shock as electricity coursed up her spine. The familiar voiced immediately latched itself onto the familiar face of –

"Swamp rat!"

Sharply turning her head to the right, she found none other than the ever-annoying Gambit perched upon a low brick wall. A single slender rose lay within the embrace of his left hand, its head very much scarce of petals.

_Mystery solved._

"What the heck are yah doin'? Stalking meh?" She angrily demanded, taking a step towards his perch.

A smile danced in his red and black eyes as he plucked another petal off with a flourish. Blessing it with a kiss, he blew it towards Rogue. She glared angrily at the scarlet offence and snatched it out of the air.

Brandishing a now bald stalk at her, the playful smile spread from his eyes.

"That was the last petal Chere, guess you do love Remy after all, non?"

"Yeah. In yoah head!"

Maybe she ought to be alarmed that an evil mutant terrorist was sitting not more than a meter away from her, but Rogue made no move to defend herself or call the Institute. She really had to stop talking to those evil mutants bent on world domination.

Shaking his head making admonishing clicking sounds, he leapt with feline grace from the wall onto his feet.

"Well, maybe he just wants to know what a belle fille is doing out on the streets alone"

Narrowing her eyes at his offensive visage, she retorted,

"Well go ask her then, and leave meh alone."

"Bien. What is Rogue doing out on the streets alone?"

He asked without missing a beat, taking a step towards her. She refused to back down from that unspoken challenge. Calmly looking back up at him, she sweetly replied,

"Ah'm afraid that ain't any of yoah business"

She then proceeded on her way. Quickly falling into step beside her, he said.

"Why chere, Remy would almost think Rogue weren't glad to see him."

She snorted with laughter.

"Well, maybe that's because Rogue's _not_, glad to see him."

"Aww Chere, it's just the denial talking."

"Don't. Call. Me. Chere."

She grated out from between clenched teeth. How annoying! How dare the stupid Cajun intrude upon her silent meditation like that?

_I wish he'd leave me alone._

Deciding that that she'd had enough of his antics, she turned to initiate his riddance- only to find him gone.

_Damn the Cajun, where'd he go now?_

Left, no. Right, no. Behind, no. Muttering curses under her breath, she turned back to head along, only to be obstructed by a certain elusive Acolyte.

"Looking for me Chere?"

Sighing, she side-stepped him. Only, he refused to be avoided, stepping in unison into her way yet again. Groaning with irritation, she took another step, only to be dogged by him.

_Alright, game's on._

Left, right, right, right left, front, back, right. He was still firmly planted in front of her.

_Well then_.

Death glare, then – left. Right. Left. Right. Left, left, front, right, left, right back right front front front front front front BANG.

"Tsk tsk. That ain't gonna work Chere. Remy be too smart."

He smirked as she crashed right into him. Rogue let out a scream of frustration. He had realized she was going to make him walk backwards until she reached the Mansion.

_Abort. Now for Plan B._

She swung her fist at his face, but he deftly caught it and twirled her around like they were a pair of dancers. Quickly recovering from her surprise, she brought both her knee and free arm up to sling him, but he latched her arms around his neck, placed his arm beneath her leg and lifted her up. He gracefully spun her through the air, then setting her back down with a debonair smile.

"Why Chere, if you'd wanted to dance you could just have asked"

_This is getting ridiculous._

She was being led around to the Tango by one of Magneto's henchmen, on a street, at one am in the morning no less. Did she neglect to mention she hated him with a passion? No? Apologies.

Maybe, just maybe, she liked him a little.

Maybe, just maybe, she'd demean herself to such absurd juvenility till the end of this dance.

Maybe, just maybe this dance would never end.

They danced in heated silence, gazing into each other eyes. Suddenly they both paused. They'd reached the end of the street. Rogue regretfully retracted her arms and stepped back.

"Well, ah guess this is it then."

"So it is. Au revoir Chere, Remy be glad to have had that dance."

Giving him a final nod, she turned, a smile silently blooming upon her face. Inhaling deeply, she relished the beauty of the scene and the freshness of the breeze. Knowing he was still watching her, she turned the right corner.

Finally headed towards home.

Disclaimer: Discalimed

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